Thursday, September 13, 2012

Crunk Snacks at Pecha Kucha

Every six weeks, my neighborhood arts org, Crosstown Arts, hosts a Pecha Kucha night. Anyone is given the opportunity to speak for six minutes on any topic of their choosing. But each talk must have 20 slides, and you can't talk for more than 20 seconds on each slide. Last month, I gave a Pecha Kucha presentation on Cookin' Crunk, and a guy in the audience asked if I would cook next time.

I said yes. And well, tonight was "next time." The folks at Crosstown Arts asked me to make enough food for 150 people. So I picked a few easy appetizers from my book and got to work. Each night this week, I made a little bit of food so that tonight would come to together quickly.

The event is usually held in the Crosstown Arts office basement, which is just a block from my house. But tonight, they were expecting a larger crowd since the talk was architecture-themed for Memphis Architecture Month. So it was moved into the rustic ground floor of the 1.4 million square foot, vacant Sears Crosstown building (also a block from my house). Here's a blurry picture of me and my food table:

Some of my cookies didn't set properly since the recipe is a tad temperamental. So I put the cookies that didn't set in some little dessert cups and topped those with vegan buttercream. Genius, I know.

After the mingling and food/wine time, Crosstown Arts' Chris Miner opened the show:

The event was a huge success with at least seven speakers (I lost count). The talks ranged from tactical urbanism to public art, and my food was mostly all gone by the time the event was over. Oh, and I sold five cookbooks!

How awesome! It's great that you're getting yourself and your book out there into the hands of an audience that may not be familiar with your work or veganism in general. Very, very cool! All of the food looks wonderful. I'm not surprised that five people snapped up your books!

Bianca, I'm so proud of you. You are living my dream but I wouldn't have the confidence to pull it off and cook for all those people. All the food looks great. You may be the next food network star. If not for television, you are to me. Love you, Mom

I just made the cornbread from the cookbook to go with my homemade chili. OMG it's incredible! I've been making a veganized version of some random cornbread recipe for years, but the version from your book kicks its a$$ out of the kitchen! Can't wait to try more recipes. I'm making the broccoli salad tomorrow for weekday lunches.. looks yummy!

My name is Bianca ...

About Me

I'm a 9-year vegan, 19-year vegetarian from the Mid-South, not too far from the muddy banks of the Mississippi River. And that means cornbread, butter beans, and collard greens.
These days, I live in Memphis. Check out my cookbook — Cookin' Crunk. It's filled with yummilicious veganized soul food and country classics.